IBM Plex Mono
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 11 of 25 monospace fonts by recommenders
People recommend it for clean rendering at small and high-DPI sizes, several weights, and CJK variants for Japanese text. No critics appear in the quotes.
People recommend it for clean rendering at small and high-DPI sizes, several weights, and CJK variants for Japanese text. No critics appear in the quotes.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Renders well at small sizes
“A modern typeface like IBM Plex Mono that offers more weights and can still render nicely at 10px size would be a better choice”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: Vertex.js – A 1kloc SPA Framework” “Based on rendering quality even at low PPI”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 on Hacker News Includes CJK variants for Japanese
“I often need to read Japanese characters so I'm gonna stick to IBM Plex, which has both Monospace and CJK variants.”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “Myna: Monospace typeface designed for symbol-heavy programming languages” “the one I love most of the fonts with CJK variants”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font” Long-time favorite for coding
“Plex Monospace is great for coding as well.”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface” “IBM Plex Mono has been my choice for years.”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Myna: Monospace typeface designed for symbol-heavy programming languages” Many weights, including Ultralight
“A modern typeface like IBM Plex Mono that offers more weights and can still render nicely at 10px size would be a better choice”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: Vertex.js – A 1kloc SPA Framework” “IBM Plex Mono Ultralight is a joy to look at on a high DPI display.”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font”
Other monospace fonts people recommend
The four most recommended other monospace fonts, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iosevka | 108 | 10 | 92% | 9 | 5 yrs7 owners | Approved |
| Nordwand Mono | 40 | 4 | 91% | 1 | — | — |
| Myna | 29 | 10 | 74% | 1 | — | — |
| Berkeley Mono | 27 | 6 | 82% | 7 | — | Approved |
| IBM Plex MonoThis page | 14 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
13 of the 16 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Based on rendering quality even at low PPI”
“IBM Plex Mono (or Lilex) or Roboto Mono just seem to work much better for my tired eyes”
“IBM Plex Mono is near flawless imo”
“So glad to see two of my favorite fonts in your list, namely IBM Plex Mono and Berkeley Mono.”
“the one I love most of the fonts with CJK variants”
“one of the few corporate fonts that I actually think works”
“IBM Plex Mono Ultralight is a joy to look at on a high DPI display.”
“no one ever got fired for choosing IBM”
“A modern typeface like IBM Plex Mono that offers more weights and can still render nicely at 10px size would be a better choice”
“Plex Monospace is great for coding as well.”
“i've customized and used scripts to fix glyph characters available as open type features”
“IBM Plex Mono has been my choice for years.”
“I often need to read Japanese characters so I'm gonna stick to IBM Plex, which has both Monospace and CJK variants.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.